Leitz head needing some work

[henryr]

The interpupillary distance adjustment on my 160mm TL trinocular head is sticky and requires more effort than it should. How can I get access to clean and lube the slides? And can the four screws securing each eyepiece tube be removed, without disengaging anything else, so I can get better access to clean the front surface of the protective windows? Are there any Leitz documents, exploded views or parts lists with pictures of the head parts?

Thanks,
henryr

[Perl]

get an service manual

[ModelZ]

I have a rather similar Leitz trinoc head. I doubt they are altogether unlike in construction. Access to mine is a piece of cake: first remove the dust collar at the root of the photo tube (three tiny Allen screws) & lift it off. The bottom back and sides of the head have 2+2 screws holding the black plastic cover. Removing them lets you just lift off the cover. All the prisms as well as the eyetube mechanism is then accessible. You probably have to pull-off/loosen the knob (which I don't have) on the left in the pic before the last step.
Once inside you want to be careful not to knock the prisms off alignment. I'd think the lubrication can be done without much risk.
Good luck,

-Karl

[henryr]

get an service manual

I've searched for hours for a service manual with no luck. Do you know where one is available?

[henryr]

I have a rather similar Leitz trinoc head. I doubt they are altogether unlike in construction. Access to mine is a piece of cake: first remove the dust collar at the root of the photo tube (three tiny Allen screws) & lift it off.
-Karl

Mine is model 512738 and is quite different. Each eyepiece tube is secured by four screws, there are no screws on the back, there are four screws on the bottom and two screws on the top.

[ModelZ]

Ok. While I cannot then give you detailed info I´d encourage you to go into work anyway and not spend much time trying to locate a manual. These are simple construtions. Two little ponts:
1. First make a note on the eyepiece tube positions to be able to return back to exactly correct place. Then remove the 4+4 screws & tubes to see if you get enough access to lubricate.
2. If you get the top cover off (which I don´t think can be diffiicult) it is a good idea to immediately wrap the exposed prisms under a plastic "tent" & tape it to the bottom. After that dust or a possible stray lubricant drop can´t mess up the optics.

-Karl

[Perl]

contact me if you need service Manual

in private message !

Regards
Pär

[henryr]

The interpupillary adjustment is now easy and as smooth as butter. The process included positioning the head on its side and putting a few very small drops of Hoppes #9 gun oil at the edges of the interface of the dovetails. I let it sit overnight and then did the same to the other side. I then exercised the slides, starting with very slight movements, and over the course of the day the movement became as new. I used the same approach, successfully on an old AO series 10 scope and it worked great.

So now I would like to clean the protective windows and see if the image is sufficiently improved. And, If the windows are just plain uncoated glass, I could be more aggressive at cleaning and not need to remove the eyepiece tubes. Does anyone know if they are just plain uncoated glass?

Thanks,
henryr